Review: Override by Heather Anastasiu

Title: Override (Glitch, #2)

Author: Heather Anastasiu

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin 

Publication date: February 12, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Dystopian)

Source: Publisher

Format: Digital ARC

Pages: 320

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Zoe is free. She has escaped the enslavement of the Community, disconnected from the hardware that had controlled her every thought and emotion, and evaded capture by the Chancellor intent on killing her. She is finally free, but she is far from safe.

Zoe and Adrien hide themselves from detection at the Foundation, an academy that trains teen glitchers to fight in the Resistance movement. Together, Zoe and her new team of superhuman fighters must risk their lives to rescue other glitchers and humans from the Chancellor's control. Challenges abound at every turn, and Adrien, who has become silent, distant, and tormented by his visions of the future, only adds to the growing certainty of defeat. But worst of all, as Zoe's team fights against impossible odds, distrust and betrayal leads to the terrible discovery that their greatest threat could already be lurking behind the safe walls of the Foundation.

When I first began reading Glitch, I was immediately sucked into the dystopian world Heather has created, and I loved it. Which is why when I got a copy of Override I picked it up immediately. Before I begin my review, it is my duty to point out how horribly edited the cover is. Ignoring the fact that it looks like a pixelated and unclear picture, from looking at the girl's arm, it looks like she cut herself. However, the third book's cover has regained my faith in the cover editors but I really hoped they would have changed it into a more refined photo before Override came out, but that didn't happen. 

End of ramble, back to review. 

I have read Override a couple of weeks ago and I can say that Override came so close to being as good as Glitch and I believe the ending was just fantastic. Override's plot had, I believe, equal weight in content as Glitch, which is something that is usually lacking in middle books. We get to find out so much more about the powers of Zoe and the rest of the glitchers, as well as her learning to control it. Also thrown in the mix is someone without powers, as well as four regulators who escaped the community but are still treated with hate. It really broke my heart. Anastasiu didn't stop there, but there are plot twists filled in this book and I quite enjoyed their cleverness. 

Character wise, Zoe, the main protagonist, isn't as naive as she used to be when she was back in the community controlled by them (the bad, evil government in every dystopian novel). I liked her confidence, courage, and need to help in any way. Even with that, we still got to see her insecure and softer side, especially when talks of her being the key to freedom is always brought up. Adrian, the love interest, also plays a role here but I believe that Zoe shined this time. 

Heather Anastasiu didn't lose momentum in this second installment of this dystopian trilogy. You will be sucked into the world of glitchers from the first page. Readers who didn't enjoy the romance and its pace as well as Zoe's naivety would definitely believe that Override is a solid and great sequel to Glitch. 

 

Other books by Heather Anastasiu:

Glitch